For now, it’s an unidentified submerged object. But a strange circular formation deep below the Baltic Sea has sparked great excitement among UFO believers who think it might be a crashed flying saucer.

While searching for shipwrecks in the waters between Finland and Sweden on June 19, a Swedish team of nautical salvagers say they uncovered a “very strange anomaly” — a round object about 60 feet across resting about 300 feet below sea level.

“You see a lot of weird stuff in this job, but during my 18 years as a professional I have never seen anything like this. The shape is completely round,” Peter Lindberg, leader of The Ocean Explorer team, told the local press, according to MSNBC.

The circular object — described by Gizmodo as resembling Star Wars’ Millenium Falcon — is also trailed on one side by what appears to be a lengthy patch of displaced seabed.

That has lead some UFO believer to surmise the strange circle is a wrecked UFO, which crashed onto the seafloor and left behind a path of destruction measuring some 900 feet, according to News.com.

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The object could, of course, be a natural phenomena, or something manmade.

Without any assurance it was otherworldly, The Ocean Explorer team initially said it had no intention to pursue further investigation after publicizing the finding.

“It is not in our sphere of interest to go for this object since the cost for each hour out on the sea are tremendous,” wrote Lindberg, whose company has made a name for itself by searching for “fluid gold” — bottles of champagne, wine and liquor that can be retrieved from shipwrecks, with great profit.

“Since it might be nothing we can not afford spending funds just to have a look at it, even if it might be a ‘new’ Stonehenge standing on the bottom.”

But thanks to international media coverage, interest from around the world and perhaps some donations, The Ocean Explorer team appears to have had a change of heart.

“We will go out again soon to document and film the object,” reads a message on the website. “We have received many emails that people want to donate money to the project. We are very grateful for your donation.”

Ok folks here are some relevant information; We will equipe the ROV with a real time 3D-sonar so we can get really nice images at close range . . . [W]e will use a multibeam sonar and an ordinary side scan sonar. We will have divers with rebreather equipment with us but they will be sent down as a last option. We have also thought about geiger-equipment. But right now there is not enough funds so we can proceed, we working on it though

I’ve been hypnotized by many a nature time-lapse video this year, but this film capturing South Dakota winter is one of my new favorites. Shot back in February, the artist behind the piece says that most nights were subzero with a -25F wind chill. Using the Dynamic Perception Stage Zero dolly and the Milapse mount on most shots, Randy Halverson pushed some limits on exactly what kind of weather conditions this type of equipment can’t withstand.

Shot in South Dakota in early February with most nights sub zero with -25 F wind chill. Used Dynamic Perception Stage Zero dolly and Milapse mount on most of the shots.

At :55 is an owl, and at 1:33 are Racoons moving near the attic of house.

Canon 60D and T2i
Tokina 11-16 – Great Lens
Tamron 17-50

Shot in RAW format, most shots were 20 seconds exposure F2.8 with 1 second interval between shots, for about 300 frames or so (several hours). There were a few 30 second and one 15 second exposures. ISO 1600

Music is “Scorpio” By Simon Wilkinson thebluemask.com
Simon’s music has also been used on Fox’s “24”

I happened upon an article that sparked my interest and shows the power that we do have as a country. Mothers Day is almost upon us, and even in an economic pinch we continue to raise sales numbers every year. 14.6 Billion by 2010 statistics. (

Can we stop for a second and maybe pass on a corporate holiday? Do you have something you can better spend your money on? Save the world lately? Together we can achieve. Your mom will still love you. Your dollar is your vote. Spend wisely..

Mother’s Day Spending To Rise

Washington, DC — An average of $126.90 will be spent per consumer on Mother’s Day gifts this year, compared with $123.89 in 2009, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). Total U.S. spending on the holiday is expected to reach $14.6 billion.

Some channel shifting has also been identified in the organization’s 2010 Mother’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, suggesting one-third of shoppers will visit department stores, compared with 27.2 percent last year. Specialty and jewelry stores in particular will see the most traffic, NRF suggests, and 19 percent are expected to shop for Mother’s Day items online.

Segmented by gender and age, the survey concludes men will spend more than women on Mother’s Day, at an average of $154.74, while women will ring up about $100.46. Adults 25 to 34 years old will spend the most at $156.84 with young adults spending only slightly less at an average of $155.52 per person.

NRF spokeswoman Kathy Grannis says candy, in particular, is a Mother’s Day staple. “A last-minute box of chocolate or gourmet candy is always welcome. Most women would agree there’s nothing wrong with a sweet tooth and treating Mothers with chocolate is a great way to celebrate them.”

When the Lyrid meteor shower hits full strength Friday and Saturday morning, it will mark a sort of planetary triple crown: Earth Day, Good Friday and Passover.

The Lyrids are one of the oldest known showers, creating a light show usually seen easily from Earth — and completely harmless.

Until recently, though, plenty of sky watchers thought Earth would now be starting a 25-year countdown to planetary holocaust — April 13, 2036, when the 270-meter-wide asteroid dubbed 99942 Apophis would hammer our home world with the force of two Krakatoas. Not enough to crack Earth like a rotten coconut, but enough to ruin a lot of people’s day.

Apophis looms in the public’s imagination for good reason. In February, Russian scientists made a more-dire-than-necessary prediction: that Apophis, named for the Egyptian god of Chaos, would blast the planet to borscht in 25 years.

Perhaps in the grip of Apophic apoplexy two years earlier, Russia had announced mission plans with the intent to deflect the rock away from Earth. That approach was criticized for fear it might actually have the opposite effect.

Also, the French proposed sending a group of solar sails toward Apophis to reflect radiation at it, hoping to change its course.

Even more confusing is the possibility that, in April 2029, Apophis — with a similar orbit to Earth’s around the sun — might pass through a “gravitational keyhole,” a section of space subject to concentrated gravity about twice its size. In theory, that could alter its orbit enough to swing it back to hit Earth in 2036.

“Earth’s gravitational tugs are just enough to modify [Apophis’] orbit,” Yeomans told AOL News, but he added that the chances of this actually happening are 1 in 250,000 and likely to get smaller.

That level of risk is in between dying in a flood — 1 in 175,803 — and getting blown up by fireworks, 1 in 386,766 (death by gunshot risk is 1 in 306, and that hasn’t prompted the repeal of the Second Amendment, after all).

Terje Sorgjerd is on a roll. After capturing some amazing footage of the Aurora Borealis recently (though not the famous footage out of the plane window) he’s back with this incredible video that looks like something out of Planet Earth. His time-lapse shots of the Milky Way show a stunning sky, backlit with an incredible aura.

It really makes you feel small, and in awe of the universe.

The time-lapse footage was captured between April 4th and 11th, 2011, from atop El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain. At one point a sandstorm blows across, which rendered Sorgjerd unable to see the sky, but left his camera with some stunning images.

For anyone who doesn’t recall the driver’s ed section on avoiding undead life forms, you might want to steer clear of South Carolina for a few days.

“Zombies Ahead,” “Watch for Hunters” and “Be Alert for Tanks” are the three warnings that drivers on Lancaster County’s S.C. 160 recently encountered from two seemingly tampered with electronic road signs, the Rock Hill Herald reports.

The pair of highway signs, contracted through construction company CR Jackson, were intended to alert drivers of upcoming night road paving scheduled to begin March 27.

YouTube

South Carolina drivers didn’t expect to enter the Twilight Zone while traveling on S.C. 160.

Since the errant messages were discovered shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday, they have become a sort of mystery to Department of Transportation officials.

“It wasn’t obvious that someone broke into it,” said Jason Johnston, a DOT district construction engineer. “It’s not our board, so we can’t program. We can’t look at the records to see what happened. And we don’t know if it was left unlocked.”

Ken Wilson, resident construction engineer for the state’s Lancaster County DOT, told The Herald that someone would need to be physically present at the sign in order to tamper with it.

“It’s my understanding that they would need a key to get into the box and a certain code to change the wording,” Wilson said.

Wilson added that as far as mischief goes, a night of the living dead isn’t all that bad.

“The message could have been a lot worse than it was,” he said. “In my opinion, it was a prank. They could have put something more sinister, something causing more panic.”

The construction company did not contact authorities and plans to address the matter internally.

A number of YouTube videos, including the one below, appear to show signs of a zombie presence.